| Chinese Text Project |
《居位 - Holding a Position 》 | English translation: AI and Chinese Text Project users [?] | Library Resources |
| 1 | 居位: | 治大國者若烹小鮮。鮮，魚。烹小魚不去腸、不去鱗、不敢撓，恐其糜也。治國煩則下亂，治身煩則精散。以道蒞天下，其鬼不神。以道德居位治天下，則鬼不敢以其精神犯人也。非其鬼不神，其神不傷人。其鬼非無精神也，非不入正，不能傷自然之人。非其神不傷人，聖人亦不傷。非鬼神不能傷害人。以聖人在位不傷害人，故鬼不敢干之也。夫兩不相傷，鬼與聖人俱兩不相傷也。故德交歸焉。夫兩不相傷，則人得治於陽，鬼神得治於陰，人得保全其性命，鬼得保其精神，故德交歸焉。 |
| Ruling a great state is like cooking small fish. Xian, a kind of fish. When cooking small fish, one does not remove the entrails or the scales and dares not stir it, for fear that it will fall apart. If governing a country is too complicated, the people below will become chaotic; if cultivating oneself is too complicated, one's essence will disperse. Ruling the world with the Dao makes its ghosts powerless. If one occupies a position and governs the world by virtue of the Dao, then ghosts will not dare to use their spiritual power to harm people. It is not that these ghosts have lost their supernatural powers; rather, they do not harm people with them. These ghosts are not devoid of spiritual power; it is that without the right conditions, they cannot harm those who live in accordance with nature. It is not merely that supernatural forces do not harm people, but also that sages do not harm them. It is not ghosts or spirits who can harm people. Because a sage in power does not harm people, the ghosts dare not interfere with them. The two do not harm each other; ghosts and sages both do not harm each other. Therefore, virtue converges upon them. When the two do not harm each other, people can be governed by yang and ghosts and spirits can be governed by yin; people preserve their lives and bodies, while ghosts preserve their spiritual essence. Therefore, virtue converges upon them both. |
URN: ctp:heshanggong/60